The passing of Pascual Perez got me thinking about his brother, Melido. I had an inexplicable love for the right handed Dominican, and an completely unsubstantiated belief that, given enough time, he could become a dominant starter for the Sox. I looked at Melido Perez and I saw the next Juan Marichal. That obviously never took place, and to this day I have no explanation for what I saw in this guy and his game that led me to these absurd conclusions.

So, since we are headed into the cold dark days of the offseason, who was your guy? Who was the Sox player or prospect that you were damned certain was going to become the next Babe Ruth or Cy Young, who never turned into the all-star you had always dreamed he would be, and, in the words of Bart Giamatti, left you to "face the fall all alone."

__________________It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone. - A. Bartlett Giamatti

Mike Sirotka. Still have a jersey of his that I wear to the park on occasion.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bucky F. Dent

The passing of Pascual Perez got me thinking about his brother, Melido. I had an inexplicable love for the right handed Dominican, and an completely unsubstantiated belief that, given enough time, he could become a dominant starter for the Sox. I looked at Melido Perez and I saw the next Juan Marichal. That obviously never took place, and to this day I have no explanation for what I saw in this guy and his game that led me to these absurd conclusions.

You shouldn't be quite so hard on yourself about Perez, even though he was never more than a middle of the road kind of pitcher with the Sox, he did seem to turn a corner in 1992, his first season with the Yankees. He was only 26 years old, posted a 2.87 ERA in 247 IP, struck out 218 (2nd in the AL behind only Randy Johnson). Unfortunately, I think he developed elbow problems either that year or in 1993 and that effectively ended his career. Sadly for him, reconstructive elbow surgery was still in its relative infancy compared to today. Had he come along maybe 10 years later his career may have been prolonged.

Greg Hibbard was my favorite pitcher on the 1990 team, which is my favorite non-2005 Sox team. I remember being disappointed when they lost him in the expansion draft and then he ended up having a pretty good year for the Cubs in 1993. Then he got hurt and was done.

For some reason, I was really hoping Danny Richar would become a dangerous gap-hitting moderate-power high-average second baseman. It was probably just a case of trying to find something positive during the second half of 2007, or it might have been because he hit a homer just a few rows from where I was sitting at the Jim Thome bobblehead walkoff game in September that month.

I also had an unhealthy hope for Kip Wells. That was probably partly due to the perfect storm of the Sox' farm system being overhyped, the availability of internet baseball news and scouting info exploding around that time, and me being in high school and gobbling it all up all the time.

For some reason, I was really hoping Danny Richar would become a dangerous gap-hitting moderate-power high-average second baseman. It was probably just a case of trying to find something positive during the second half of 2007, or it might have been because he hit a homer just a few rows from where I was sitting at the Jim Thome bobblehead walkoff game in September that month.

I also had an unhealthy hope for Kip Wells. That was probably partly due to the perfect storm of the Sox' farm system being overhyped, the availability of internet baseball news and scouting info exploding around that time, and me being in high school and gobbling it all up all the time.

Yeah, Kip Wells definitely. And here's the thing. When Kip came up for the first time in the 2nd half of, I want to say, 1999 . . . he was ****ing awesome. He was fanning people left and right and simply dominating.

Then, next season came around people thought he'd be our ace and he struggled right out of the gate and never again looked like he did in his first couple months of the majors. It ended up being Garland in the rotation for the 2nd half of 2000, not Kip.

It was just weird. Maybe he injured something and we just never heard about it.

Yeah, Kip Wells definitely. And here's the thing. When Kip came up for the first time in the 2nd half of, I want to say, 1999 . . . he was ****ing awesome. He was fanning people left and right and simply dominating.

Then, next season came around people thought he'd be our ace and he struggled right out of the gate and never again looked like he did in his first couple months of the majors. It ended up being Garland in the rotation for the 2nd half of 2000, not Kip.

It was just weird. Maybe he injured something and we just never heard about it.

Didn't Kip get hit by a line drive or something in spring training 2000 and after that he seemed really timid on the mound?

And my player would probably be Joe Borchard. All the hype from when he was drafted through his minor league service up until he homered in his first game, and it just never happened. Although he's the reason the Sox got Matt Thornton so there's that one positive.

No doubt, Lance Johnson. The 40+ SB years in the St. Louis system made me think he was the going to be the next Rickey Henderson after he got dealt here.

To a lesser extent, Carlos Lee after his first AB homer and games thereafter, I thought Chad Bradford was going to be our best closer ever, and I really liked Alan Bannister during the South Side Hit Men days.

As far as players who didn't end up having a decent career, there's hundreds.